More than 500 Afghan soldiers were involved in the fighting

US and Afghan government forces are said to have killed at least seven Taleban fighters in a raid in central Afghanistan.

A police spokesman said three Afghan soldiers also died and five were injured in the clashes.

The fighting lasted for two days in the mountainous Chaar Cheno region of the central province of Uruzgan, once a Taleban stronghold.

It came as the UN Security Council adopted a resolution enabling international peacekeepers to operate beyond the Afghan capital Kabul.

Searches

The Afghan police spokesman, Haji Mohammed Akhtar, had said on Tuesday that the Afghan unit had been facing tough resistance by about 100 members of the Taleban.

It is not clear what happened to the remaining fighters although one report quoted an unnamed official as saying they had escaped.

"The Taleban forces overnight escaped because they could not resist the fighting and now American soldiers are conducting house-to-house searches to find out if any Taleban members are hidden among ordinary people," the official was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

About 500 Afghan soldiers armed with heavy machine-guns, assault rifles and rocket launchers took part in the raid.

Taleban remnants have intensified attacks on Afghan government troops, aid workers and US-led coalition forces in recent months.

Isaf expansion

On Tuesday, the Security Council passed a resolution which allows the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Kabul to deploy in a number of provincial towns.

The vote was warmly welcomed by the Afghan administration which has long demanded that the force's mandate be expanded.

German and Canadian troops make up the bulk of the force - which is separate from the US-led operation against Taleban remnants in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The BBC's Crispin Thorold in Kabul says the security situation in the provinces is impeding development projects.

At present many areas of the country are off-limits to aid agencies because of the threat of violence.

They have called on the international community to address threats from extremists and warlords and say the country's hopes of reconstruction are growing increasingly fragile.